Florida boater sues oil companies
 

Florida boater sues oil companies over ethanol with eye to class action suit.

http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsd...34ibinews.html

Should be interesting to see what comes from this.

Florida boater sues oil companies over ethanol with eye to class action suit

By IBI Magazine

A Florida boat owner last week filed a lawsuit against US oil companies, alleging they sold ethanol-blended fuel to boaters while knowing it would cause damage to engines. Florida boat owner Erick Kelecseny claims that his boat engine and fuel tank were damaged by ethanol-blended gas.

His lawsuit alleges that gas companies including Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell, continued to sell ethanol-blended fuel to the marine industry after they knew it would cause damage to the motors. Kelecseny is seeking punitive damages and class-action status to include all Florida boat owners whose vessels were damaged by the blended gas.

The Florida lawsuit follows a second class-action lawsuit filed last April in California. "The oil companies know this fuel is harmful, but they're keeping it on the market to pump up profits," Brian Kabateck, an attorney in the California case, told IBI in April. "But it costs consumers thousands of dollars in repairs."

Kelecseny's attorney, Brian Ferguson, told the Tampa Tribune that the ethanol in the fuel Kelecseny bought disintegrated the resins in the fibreglass tank. Those resins passed through the fuel system, and fouled the engine. "We have the tank," said Ferguson. "Mechanics have taken it and could see the damage to the tank."

"We're not looking for $1,500 or $10,000 to repair the engine or the boat," said Ferguson. "We're looking for the approval of a class, so that whether people spent $100 or $30,000, they can get compensated."





(20 August 2008)

the oil companys will tie this up in court for decades.....

Damm I need to jump in on that class action. Had to pay $5,000+ shipping , total about $8,000 to have tanks re done because of ethanol.Says it is just for Fla. boaters , it should be nationwide. I know there are ALOT of US out there that have had or are going to have problems because of the eathanol !!

chit gas will be 10.00 a gallon now :eek::ernaehrung004:

Good premise...I'm glad someone is doing something to try and screw them back, but as said above, nothing will happen - if it does, it'll be decades.

Secondly, the oil companies aren't the ones who pushed ethenol. Hell, they contested it vehemently. If we were to sue anyone, it should be the government and the damned democrats who pushed this nonsensical bullsht alcohol blend on us - at our expense.

Yeah I know how you feel. I have to cut my tanks open this month to start to repair my fiberglass tanks in my Motion......

While were at it.......Can we list all the manufacturers that used fiberglass fuel tanks. So far the only ones I know of are Skater and Motion.

Yellowfinn, older Bertrams,older Hatteras, some pursuits ect .ect. It is not just a problem for Fast Cats!Aluminum will CORRODE with eathanol ( usually at the welds!) ! Plus you also get nice things like phase separation and larger than normal amounts of water in your tanks too! This is a problem for any boat that uses Gasoline!

Yep. Especially for boats that get stored for long periods of time. I had some issues with a non fiberglass tank because of stale blended gas.

Not possible....
How do you find a trial lawyer who is not already a democrat politician? :D